Whereas the SLS was a supercar in the mega-GT mould, AMG’s follow-up is smaller, cheaper, turbocharged and conventionally doored

It was, in many respects, marvellous – and because it was AMG’s first go, momentous, too. Its replacement, although similar in some respects and not entirely unrelated beneath, is not to be thought of as a successor.

That’s considerably more difficult than building a low-volume supercar, particularly as Mercedes has stuck with the SLS’s gameplan: keeping its big engine in front of the driver rather than behind, nestling the cabin to the rear of a long-nosed body and even providing a decent boot, this time with a convenient liftback.

As in the SLS, the power goes to the rear wheels via a transaxle, which helps to keep the weight distribution at what Mercedes calls an optimum 47/53 percent front-rear split. The V8 itself is mounted sufficiently far back on the aluminium spaceframe that the manufacturer prefers to describe it as front mid-engined.

In point of fact, it describes the GT as a lot of things, most notably the embodiment of the “spirit of the glorious Mercedes sports cars”. That it may be, but is it sufficiently good to outshine the Porsche 911 Carrera or new Audi R8?